Foreclosure filings down less than 1 percent from Q4 2010, down 20 percent from a year ago

Foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 899 Maine properties during the first quarter of 2011, down less than 1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010 and 20 percent below the level reported for the same quarter last year, according to the latest RealtyTrac® U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

The state posted the 42nd highest foreclosure rate in the nation, with one in every 784 Maine housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter. Foreclosure filings were reported on 314 Maine properties in March, a 14 percent increase from February, but still down 23 percent from March 2010. The state’s unemployment rate continues to improve, falling below the national average to 7.6 percent in March. One in every 2,244 Maine housing units received a foreclosure filing in March, the 40th highest state foreclosure rate in the nation.

PenobscotCounty reports state’s top foreclosure rate in the first quarter

PenobscotCounty posted the highest foreclosure rate in Maine during the first quarter of 2011, with one in every 344 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — 2.3 times the state average. YorkCounty had the second highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 447 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — 1.8 times the state average. One in every 479 housing units in KennebecCounty received a foreclosure filing, the third highest foreclosure rate in the state for the quarter.

YorkCounty leads the state in foreclosure activity for first quarter

YorkCounty led the way, reporting 236 properties with foreclosure filings during the quarter. PenobscotCounty was second highest in the state, reporting 208 properties with foreclosure filings. Third highest total was tallied in CumberlandCounty, where 185 properties with foreclosure filings were reported. Reporting 127 properties with foreclosure filings for the quarter, KennebecCounty registered the fourth highest total in the state. Fifth highest was AndroscogginCounty, where 52 properties with foreclosure filings were reported for the quarter.

State a minor contributor to nation’s foreclosure total in first quarter

Maine accounted for less than 1 percent of the 681,153 properties with foreclosure filings reported nationwide for the first quarter of 2011. Total U.S. activity decreased almost 15 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010, and was down 27 percent from the level reported for the same quarter in 2010. One in every 191 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

“The nation’s housing market continued to languish in the first quarter, even as foreclosure activity fell to a three-year low,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Weak demand, declining home prices and the lack of credit availability are weighing heavily on the market, which is still facing the dual threat of a looming shadow inventory of distressed properties and the probability that foreclosure activity will begin to increase again as lenders and servicers gradually work their way through the backlog of thousands of foreclosures that have been delayed due to improperly processed paperwork.”

Report methodology

The RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into the RealtyTrac database during the month — broken out by type of filing by state, county and metropolitan statistical area. Some foreclosure filings entered into the database during the month may have been recorded in previous months. Data is collected from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. RealtyTrac‘s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default—Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction— Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). If more than one foreclosure document is received for a property during the month, only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The report also checks if the same type of document was filed against a property in a previous month. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state the property is in, the report does not count the property in the current month.

For current news and information regarding foreclosure-related issues and trends, check out our blog at www.ForeclosurePulse.com.

About RealtyTrac

RealtyTrac® is the leading provider of comprehensive housing data and analytics for the real estate and financial services industries, Federal, state and local governments, academic institutions, and the media. Data is aggregated from parcel-level records of more than 125 million U.S. residential and commercial properties and delivered through customizable products including bulk file licensing, APIs and custom reports.